Memory Taxidermy is an exploration of the frantic anxiety and chronic nostalgia that stems from the ephemeral and unreliable nature of memories. We rely on our minds above all, placing our hope and trust on something wholly intangible and beyond our control. What happens during the gaps and the silences when our minds fail us? Any attempt to perfectly preserve moments through documentation is futile; we know they will still slip through our fingers. The struggle to cradle and preserve memories while they corrode and decompose from within is, to me, a form of memory taxidermy.
The piece mimics the eroding and distorting of memories by rewinding and overwriting segmented camcorder footage on the same 60-minute cassette tape. The camcorder bears witness to home video-inspired scenes and dialogue that reflect small moments. These snapshots of potential nostalgia, now lost in meaning and time to the rewinding, bleed together into a singular piece that is both frantic and frustrating; overwhelming and elusive. To continue to hit record and carry on the ritual of documentation is my attempt to hold onto memories and sensations, trying my hardest to preserve and trace them despite their ongoing displacement and decay.
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